Flame Retardant

The Los Angeles Kings had not beat the Calgary Flames since February 15th of 2008. For the hockey layman… 1 time in their last 11 meetings. The Kings once again did not bring their best game… but they still walked away with a victory. Having Rob Scuderi back in the lineup made a big difference on defense as Scuderi and Matt Greene did a great job of smothering the Flames and preventing any real offense from the team. And young goaltender Jon Quick hands-down had his best game of the season. He out-Kiprusoff’d Calgary goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff. Don’t believe me? Then check out this save.

Kings 2, Calgary Flames 1

This night featured a couple great highlights… the kind of highlights that would be on Sportscenter…if Sportscenter still featured hockey nightly. Kings rookie Scott Parse now has 11 points in 21 games and 9 points in his last 9 games. And last night… he scored one of the prettiest goals of the Kings season.

Not sure if I’d describe Scott Parse as “lanky.”

With leading scorer (and former NHL league leader) Anze Kopitar now scoreless in 13 straight games, just try to imagine where the Kings would be without Scott Parse, Wayne Simmonds and Michal Handzus. I love watching this line play every night and with Coach Murray making incredibly quick line changes last night, even Murray seemed eager to get that line out as much as possible.

It may have taken you 5 years, Scooter Parse… but welcome to the NHL.

As far as Teddy Purcell and PurcellWatch ’09?

Teddy Purcell had 09:45 minutes on the ice and newly bearded Oscar Moller had 06:52. Moller still gets pushed around out there, much more than Purcell does, but his potential offensive upside seems to excite Kings fans much, much more than Purcell’s can. Well at least the fans that showed up to this game.

Pleeeeenty of good seats available.

The LA Times might be worried about the lack of attendance at Kings’ home games… but last night was the first game all season I felt like the arena was empty. I mean… a Monday night home game against a team from Calgary when it’s close to freezing outside doesn’t bring in the crowds? Bah! It sucks that more people weren’t there last night because they missed the new space-aged Santa costumes on the Kings Ice Crew.

They should just go ahead and wear these year round.

And since it is the holiday season, the Team LA store was busting out some great holiday gifts for Kings fans of all ages.

It’s a former King Michael Cammalleri power bracelet!This bracelet proves that you are tall enough for rides at Disneyland.

If you watching you money this holiday season then check out this heavily discounted lovely bobblehead.

If you push the button on the base it goes:BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

There was a lot of talk last night around the arena from fans about the recent legal troubles and subsequent absence of Kings sideline reporter Heidi Androl from the game last night. Half Season Ticket Holder Buddy and I thought it strange that Rich Hammond had made no mention of the arrest. We got into a discussion of just how “free” Hammond was to report on Kings coming and goings. Well after the game, Hammond threw this into his post-game notes:

“Heidi Androl, who does on-camera work for the Kings on TV and online, did not work Monday. She was arrested early Monday morning, reportedly for suspicion of driving under the influence.”

I certainly DO NOT want the Kings Insider to turn into a gossip blog. There are plenty of other blogs for that. But I do think it is important for the Kings organization to acknowledge what happened… even if they get into all the details. I didn’t watch the game on Fox Sports West… but I can only assume that Heidi was not a part of the broadcast. Because she sure wasn’t on the ice for her traditional post-game interview with the games’ first star.

Your post-game interview with the Kings’ #1 star of the game… now 150% less sexier.

Who knew that Patrick O’Neal had such a wicked bald spot?!

A nice victory against the Calgary Flames puts the Los Angeles Kings in a 3-way tie for 3rd in the Western Conference. 3 big games all in a row coming up this week… San Jose on the road Wednesday, Phoenix at home on Thursday and Dallas at home on Saturday. Those are 6 possible Pacific Division points at play. It’s almost mid-December and these games mean something. It’s the greatest gift a Kings fan could get.